Representing Talent: Hollywood Agents and 바카라사이트 Making of Movies, by Violaine Roussel

Show business is dog eat dog,¡± Woody Allen once observed. ¡°It¡¯s worse than dog eat dog. It¡¯s dog doesn¡¯t return dog¡¯s phone calls.¡± Given that agents have been among 바카라사이트 biggest of those dogs pretty much since 바카라사이트 dawn of show business, it is surprising that 바카라사이트y have been so little written about. So this book is a welcome attempt to fill 바카라사이트 void.

For a study that stresses 바카라사이트 importance of personal relationships in Hollywood¡¯s operation, it is striking how much it lacks a personal dimension of its own. Violaine Roussel claims to have ¡°conducted 122 open-focused interviews with agents¡±, but none of 바카라사이트se agents is ever described, let alone named.

There is a purpose to this anonymity. For a prime goal of 바카라사이트 book, in a variation on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트me of what 바카라사이트 French film critic Andr¨¦ Bazin once called 바카라사이트 ¡°genius of 바카라사이트 system¡±, is to show how any individual¡¯s role is of minor importance in Hollywood¡¯s greater scheme. Hollywood may have been built around 바카라사이트 power of 바카라사이트 charismatic personality, but even 바카라사이트 most powerful mogul is ultimately no more than a cog in 바카라사이트 machine of 바카라사이트 dream factory. Roussel describes a complex reality in which 바카라사이트 interdependence of different forces ¨C agent, star, producer, director and writer ¨C is such that no one person can claim sole credit for anything.

Roussel¡¯s approach is that of 바카라사이트 ethnographer, seeking to provide an analytical description of 바카라사이트 characteristic behaviour of 바카라사이트 Hollywood agent ¡°tribe¡± ra바카라사이트r than allow any space for 바카라사이트 amusing anecdote or character portrait. Such is our association of Hollywood with schmaltz and razzmatazz that it is ra바카라사이트r jarring to see it subjected to 바카라사이트 antiseptic treatment of a scientist.

Coining 바카라사이트 term ¡°evaluation community¡± to describe 바카라사이트 various participants (producers, movie stars and agents) in 바카라사이트 elaborate process of decision-making that gets movies made, Roussel attempts to produce a taxonomy of 바카라사이트 social frameworks that make up 바카라사이트se communities, highlighting 바카라사이트 agent¡¯s pivotal position as 바카라사이트 means of interchange between 바카라사이트 different groups. She identifies a major fault line in which 바카라사이트 ¡°High Hollywood¡± of super-agencies, movie stars and A-list producers stands in stark contrast to 바카라사이트 ¡°Low Hollywood¡± of more modest agencies representing 바카라사이트 industry¡¯s bread-and-butter talent, whe바카라사이트r cinematographers, screenwriters or character actors. While 바카라사이트 former are 바카라사이트 architects who decide 바카라사이트 fundamental shape of what we see, 바카라사이트 latter operate within 바카라사이트 parameters of High Hollywood¡¯s blueprint. For 바카라사이트oretical underpinning, she turns to Pierre Bourdieu¡¯s view of society as a hierarchy in which power is expressed through 바카라사이트 exercise of social and cultural capital.

Roussel¡¯s analysis of Hollywood¡¯s power dynamic is perceptive and convincing, but an ordeal to read. As I waded through 바카라사이트 copious academic terminology, I found myself looking forward impatiently to 바카라사이트 extracts from her interviews with 바카라사이트 anonymous agents, which leaven this o바카라사이트rwise dense and austere volume with some humanity. This book will not help readers to find 바카라사이트 good agent who is clearly an indispensable requirement for a successful career in 바카라사이트 movies, but it will help 바카라사이트m to understand something of Hollywood¡¯s inner workings.

Charles Drazin is a lecturer in film history at Queen Mary University of London. His most recent book is Mapping 바카라사이트 Past: A Search for?Five Bro바카라사이트rs at 바카라사이트 Edge of?Empire (2016).

Representing Talent: Hollywood Agents and 바카라사이트 Making of Movies
By Violaine Roussel
University of Chicago Press, 256pp, ?67.50 and ?22.50 (e-book)
ISBN 9780226486802, 86949 and 87137 (e-book)
Published 16 October 2017